Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Mock-up, you say?

Time's a real luxury these days!

But I got some work done on the playfield hinges, which hopefully turned out alright. I had to make a mock-up playfield using a small wooden board and the actual playfield hinges, brackets and supporters. If I had been using a proper playfield it would have been near impossible to position the playfield correctly since the actual playfield would be blocking most of the view...

1) Front of the mock-up. It turned out to be crucial in aligning and positioning the brackets for the hinges.
The supportbracket is not in it's final position and will come closer to the center of the cabinet. 

2) The mock-up "playfield" in an upright position.
The brackets are not attached in this picture and the "playfield" will extend 5 cm
beyond the end of the hinge on a real playfield. 


I need to decide on how to bolt the brackets for the hinges, since I'm pretty sure the bolts will cause big holes in the forehead of the Big Daddy that is featured on the sides of the cabinet. But on the other hand, if a proper bolt isn't used the whole playfield could drop down into the cabinet if we're unlucky!

I might do a compromise by having the bolt go through the cabinet sides, but lowered into the wood so that the head of the bolt does not protrude beyond the surface of the board. It should be stable enough, I hope. The downside with this approach is that I have to cut a (big) hole in the sideart if I ever need to unscrew those bolts. Not a big deal, but something to consider.

I also need to make a small wooden box that protects the circuitry in the bottom of the box since the cables of the playfield might possible cause damage when lifting or rotating the playfield. It would also protect the circuits if the playfield would drop into the cabinet, and also from any rogue balls that might drop onto the circuits in case of any catastrophic events containing coconuts and machine failure.

1 comment:

  1. you could always use coach bolts. They have a square section under the head that will stop them turning if you undo the nut. The original bolt used will be like this design. stick the bolt in a lathe to make the head a little thinner and then do as you describe. you'll then never need to cut the sideart if you need to loosen the nut (although if you want to remove the bolt you will, no reason you'd ever need to though).
    Rich

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